Bovine coronavirus in neonatal calf diarrhoea in Iran

Abstract

Partial gene sequencing for the bovine coronavirus at the World Genebank is available for many countries, which are distributed unevenly in five continents, but so far, no sequencing of strains has been recorded in Iran. One hundred ninety‐four stool samples from calves with diarrhoea less than one‐month old were collected from five different geographical regions of country in order to detect coronavirus and characterize it if coronavirus was found. Samples were screened for the presence of BCoV by using a commercially available ELISA kit. Furthermore, RT‐PCR was carried out on positive samples for confirmation of the presence of N and S specific genes. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was carried out following RT‐PCR tests. 7.2% of samples, were positive for BCoV and all stool samples from the South‐West, Northeast and West regions of Iran were negative. The results showed that all the strains of coronavirus identified in Iran were completely in independent clusters and that they did not stand in the same cluster as any of the strains identified in other parts of the world. The strains from Iran were quite different from strains in other parts of the world but from the point of similarity these viruses showed some similarities to the European strains, such as those found in France, Croatia, Denmark and Sweden.

Abstract

This is the first report of sequencing and phylogeneticic analysis of bovine coronavirus strains isolated from neonatal calf diarrhea in Iran. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of BCoV showed that coronaviruses in Iran were quite different from known Bovine coronaviruses (BCoV) in other parts of the world. The phylogenetic tree of gene N indicated that all the viruses identified in Iran were completely in independent clusters and that they did not stand in the same cluster with any of the coronaviruses identified in other parts of the world. Regarding the gene S phylogenetic tree, the coronaviruses were divided into four general groups, with all strains from Iran being grouped together which was different from BCoV isolated in other parts of the world.